Tag: hero Archives - The Traveling Cup

As Jay Stolar showed us, so many times we just have to get out of our own way. It’s so easy to talk ourselves out of a great idea. Or, even worse, we allow ourselves to give into beliefs that we’re not good enough.

That the people we admire are someone superhuman.

When the truth is, the world was made up by people that were no smarter than us and we can change it.

So, take a look at your actions and reactions and ask yourself, are you getting in your own way?

Stop getting in your own way and let your inner hero out.

2. Self-Limiting Beliefs

Everything in the research books says that I should not be successful.

I’m adopted.
Was raised in a poor family with parents who didn’t go college.
And had an alcoholic as a father.
From a very early age, I believed that if you put your mind to something, there’s nothing that can stop you from achieving your goals.

I know we’ve all heard that as a kid, but I really believed it. I needed to believe it to survive and thrive.

But I still find myself with self-limiting beliefs. Like I need another college degree or that Ph.D, or I need someone who I admire to recognize that my work is good.

These beliefs are totally normal. And all the people you admire have them too. In fact, they more than likely have more self-limiting beliefs because the ladder they can fall from is a lot higher so-to-speak.

3. Living Authentically

When I went to the bookstore the other day, I noticed that they no longer have a “self-help” section. It’s now called “Personal Development” or “Life Enrichment” or something like that.

That’s because the term “self-help” has become taboo in our culture.

I know whenever I went to the bookstore as a kid and went over to the self-help section, my friends would make fun of me because that’s where people who are messed up would go to get fixed.

Ughhh — what a backward way of thinking of it. That’s where people go who want to better themselves.

Seriously, if you want to achieve greatness you need to be open to help. You need to be vulnerable and identify your weaknesses.

Every top-performer that I’ve interviewed asks for help and looks as help as an opportunity to get better.

This is how you become limitless.

4. You Don’t Need Permission

Stop asking for permission. You don’t need it.

We’re raised in a way that we grow up always having to ask for permission. It’s gotten to the point where 16-18-year-old students still need to ask to go to the bathroom during school.

And if you know behavior psychology, you know that this type of consistent behavior changes the connections in the brain. Think Pavlov’s Dog. What this does to us as humans is that it wires us to ask for permission

If we have to ask for permission to do the most basic of human processes like going to the bathroom, how can we expect people to become their own bosses as entrepreneurs or creatively solve problems that no one has ever solved before.

It’s impossible to do something really innovative and extraordinary if you’re waiting for someone to give you permission.

Instead, give yourself permission to just focus on being YOU. This is your life on purpose.

5. Define What it Means to Be a Hero

Define what it means to be a hero on your own terms. Instead of comparing yourself to others who you think are heroic.

Consider, instead, to define what it means to be a hero.

For instance, I’m finding a lot of those I meet tend to compare themselves to and idolize a few celebrities who have made it big so-to-speak.